They came for liquor, and left with a proposal

HARRISBURG — A belief in free markets pushed Roger Howard out his southern Chester County home early Monday. He wanted to be make it to Harrisburg, 70 miles away, by 7 a.m.

He was there to see if Pennsylvania is getting out of the liquor businesses.

“I don’t believe in central control,” said Howard, a member of the Coalition for Advancing Freedom citizen group.

Howard was one of more than 100 Pennsylvanians who filled the hallway in the Irvis Office Building on Monday morning. Whether for or against liquor privatization, they wanted to see what was about to happen — and they wanted a seat. They had to wait, though. The meeting didn’t begin until 11 a.m.

The House Liquor Control Committee was taking up House Bill 790, a proposal to end the state’s monopoly on wine and liquor sales and put it in the hands of the marketplace.

The line wrapped along the right side of the normally empty hallway. It snaked around two corners, with security guards training an eye trained on the crowd and keeping the hallways clear for lawmakers and state officials. Nylon barricades kept the crowd corralled two and three deep.

The group didn’t go hungry, though. A good Samaritan left doughnut holes for the early risers.

Howard was joined in line by fellow coalition member Bill Hovis, who said he simply wanted to support the cause of free enterprise.

They were lucky to have been in line early. They scored two straight-back leather chairs for the hours-long meeting, held in a hearing room that usually doesn’t draw much of a crowd.

The committee hearing was the first crack at the privatization proposal put forth by Gov. Tom Corbett, which lawmakers changed in the process.

Facing the likelihood that the privatization proposal would move forward, unionized state liquor store employee and their supporters flooded the hallways.

Dozens of union members donned yellow T-shirts with a crossed-out martini glass, the same yellow shirts now recognizable throughout the Capitol as privatization debates take center stage. Fending off a cold Pennsylvania March, some wore the shirts over long-sleeved tees, while others had emblazoned yellow fleeces to match.

And they brought along signs: “Gov. Corbett’s rhetoric doesn’t match the facts.”

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 president Wendell Young IV said the state store employees who came to the meeting Monday are looking out for their jobs and Pennsylvania taxpayers.

“They’re really concerned about the impact of what’s going to be talked about today,” Young said.

The heart of that debate is whether a privatized alcohol industry will leave Pennsylvania consumers better off on pricing, convenience and availability of alcoholic beverages — the same conversation lawmakers have had for 80 years. But this time around, the details were new.

Young, a staunch opponents to privatization, took a seat next to Matt Brouillette, an ardent privatization supporter who heads up the free-market think tank Commonwealth Foundation.

The bill passed, but only after more than two hours of debate and significant changes to the governor’s original plan.

While important in the privatization debate, Monday’s hearing was just the first stop in a long journey. The House of Representatives must vote on the bill, and then the Senate gets its chance. If successful in both chambers, what emerges will go to the governor for consideration.